Several plain-colored carriages passed through the side door and entered the main gates of the palace. The guards at the gates watched as the carriages moved further and further away. This procession was much worse than when the Empress had entered the palace.
Right now, the Emperor hadn't officially titled her Empress, but after the ruckus at the Royal Court, everyone in the palace knew that Qu shi was definitely the Empress. There were countless palace maids and taijian in the Department of Household Affairs that wanted to serve the Empress. It was a pity that the Emperor had personally chosen people for the Empress. Just the intentions of the Emperor towards the Empress made everyone in the palace understand. In the Emperor's heart, all the shiqie of Duan Wang Fu added together couldn't compare to one finger of the Empress.
"Stop!" The thin and long voice of a taijian sounded from outside the carriages. The carriages stopped at the same time. The taijian that gave the orders looked at the carriages behind him and announced: "Please, mistresses, get off the carriages and onto the step-carriages."
Jiang Yong Yu supported Ai Lu's hand to get off the carriage. She saw four step-carriages not far away. One of them was much more exquisite than the other three. Before she could react, the taijian that had given the orders walked in front of her, smiling as he greeted: "Greetings to niangniang. Nucai is the chief steward of Yu Ping Palace, He Shou, please come this way." He reached out to lead Jiang Yong Yu towards the most exquisite step-carriage.
Ai Lu, who was supporting Jiang Yong Yu, was overjoyed. This taijian dared to call her mistress niangniang, didn't that mean that the Emperor was going to give her mistress a high position?
After Jiang Yong Yu sat steadily on the carriage, the taijian raised his hand: "Rise." Finishing, he didn't care about the other three and followed Jiang Yong Yu.
When Jiang Yong Yu's step-carriage started to move, a taijian came forward to greet her mistress and lead the three onto the step-carriage to follow behind Jiang Yong Yu.
The shiqie first had to greet the Empress when they entered the palace. The procession walked a certain distance. When they neared the rear hall of Tian Qi Palace, they put down the step-carriage and the four of them walked in.
He Shou walked to the door of the rear hall and said to the taijian guarding the door: "The zhuzi of Duan Wang Fu have been received into the palace. Please, gonggong, inform them."
The taijian guarding the door didn't have the same rank as He Shou but he was still on duty in Tian Qi Palace. He saw He Shou was very polite and naturally wouldn't put on airs. He raised his hands to He Shou: "So it's He gonggong, please wait, this small one will go in and ask."
"Thank you, thank you!" The smile on He Shou's face became even warmer. Seeing the other go in to inquire, he turned to walk next to Jiang Yong Yu and said in a small voice, "Niangniang, because the renovation of Kui Yuan Palace is not small, the Empress is temporarily residing in the rear hall of Tian Qi Palace. The Yu Ping Palace that you are residing in is not far from Kui Yuan Palace. In the future, it will be very convenient to pay respects to the Empress."
Jiang Yong Yu instantly understood that this person called He Shou was the chief taijian steward in her palace. She quickly examined him. Seeing that he was well-mannered and wasn't a foolish person, she nodded, "The Empress' status is high, it naturally takes more effort to renovate the place she lives in."
He Shou smiled and heaved a sigh of relief in his heart. He was originally worried that he would have to serve a confused master, but now that he looked at him, he realized that he was a smart person. Of the four shiqie, only she could be made a fei. Even her residence was Yu Ping Palace, which was closer to Kui Yuan Palace. This at least meant that the Empress treated her the closest.
It wasn't too serious that the Emperor didn't like her. If even the Empress didn't like her, how could they live in the future?
Feng Zi Jin stood behind Jiang Yong Yu, her expression slightly ugly. From entering the palace until now, these people had been flattering Jiang Yong Yu. Was she going to have the highest status out of the four of them in the future?
Her birth was the best of the four. Why did the highest status become Jiang Yong Yu?
Luo Yin Xiu and Han Qing He stood docilely. They didn't even dare to raise their heads to look at the door to the rear hall, waiting for the Empress to summon them.
The four stood for a while. The taijian that had been guarding the door came out. He said with a smile: "The Empress invites the mistresses in, please." Finishing, Jin Zhan came out of the door. She bowed to the four, "Noble mistresses, please follow nubi."
"Thank you, Jin Zhan guniang," Jiang Yong Yu smiled at her and raised her foot to walk inside.
"I don't dare," Jin Zhan retreated to the side and made an inviting gesture, leading the four into the inner hall.
"Niangniang, the noble mistresses have come in," Huang Yang said in a small voice. The rest of the palace called Qu Qing Ju Empress, but the people around Qu Qing Ju still called her "Niangniang". Since she hadn't officially come down, it wasn't appropriate to call her Empress.
Qu Qing Ju opened her eyes that had been pretending to sleep. As expected, the four walked in and simultaneously knelt down in front of her, giving three bows and nine kowtows.
Being bowed to by the four in unison, Qu Qing Ju stiffened her face and accepted it. After the four finished bowing, she bestowed a seat for the four. She examined the four. They were all dressed appropriately. It seemed that they had put in some effort to enter the palace.
"Long time no see, have you all been well?" Qu Qing Ju raised a cup of tea to take a sip. She slowly waved the fan in her hand, "I wanted to welcome you into the palace a long time ago, but due to many reasons, it took some time. One was that the residences hadn't been prepared. The second was that xiandi hadn't left long ago. This delay has been more than a month. "
"Thanks for niangniang's concern. Pinqie is all well," Jiang Yong Yu responded, "But pinqie was very worried that niangniang would be tired from managing the hougong so it wasn't good to send a letter to you. Seeing it today, Empress has really lost a lot of weight."
It was a lie that Qu Qing Ju had lost weight, but dressed in white, she looked more delicate than usual in the fu.
Jiang Yong Yu discreetly examined the other. She didn't know if it was her imagination, but she felt that the Empress' appearance was different compared to when she had just married into the fu. But when she thought about the Empress' taciturn personality when she had just married into the fu, she felt that it was because she was dressed differently.
It was said that appearance came from the heart. If the heart was changed, there would be some changes in appearance. Qu Qing Ju looked at herself in the mirror and didn't feel much change. She smiled as she remarked, "It must be because of the heat of the summer that I sweated so much that I lost weight."
"Yes, this summer is the most painful," Han Qing He carefully followed up, "And niangniang has to manage so many things in the hougong, how can you not lose weight?"
They hadn't sat for long when they saw He Heng wearing a soft silk robe embroidered with dark dragons as he walked in. He walked very quickly, not even looking at the shiqie sitting at the side. He picked up the teacup that Qu Qing Ju had drunk from and took a sip. Then he sat down on another chair at the front, "The weather is getting hotter. Just circling around the front hall to get here, it's so painful."
"Greetings to Emperor." Jiang Yong Yu and the others hurriedly stood to bow. If He Heng didn't call them, they didn't dare to move.
"En, you guys are entering the palace today?" He Heng carelessly looked at the four people, his brows slightly furrowing as he said, "Since you have finished your greetings, go back to your own residences." He waved his hand, clearly not wanting too many people to stay here.
"Qie bids farewell." Jiang Yong Yu and the others bowed and retreated. When they came out of the door of the rear hall, they saw some taijian holding long bamboo poles covered with cloth bags as they caught summer cicadas in the trees. They couldn't help but ask, "What are they doing?"
He Shou, who had been standing guard outside, hurriedly answered: "Just now, when the Emperor came over, he heard the sound of cicadas and said that Empress hadn't rested well these past few days. He had the servants chase away the summer cicadas so that Empress could have a good afternoon nap."
Jiang Yong Yu looked at the summer cicadas flying away. No wonder the Emperor had been in such a hurry to chase them away. It was because they were delaying the Empress' afternoon nap.
Walking at the back, Feng Zi Jin twisted her mouth but didn't dare to say anything. She faintly felt that the Emperor had treated Qu Qing Ju too well.
The second day after the shiqie entered the palace, He Heng sent down the decree to promote the hougong.
Xiandi's Empress was titled Muhou Empress Dowager and lived in the Chang Ning Palace in the east. He Heng's birth mother, Jing guifei, was titled Sheng Mu Empress Dowager and lived in the Fu Shou Palace in the west. An guipin was promoted to gui taifei, Shu guifei was promoted to gui taifei. According to the old custom, both could be taken out of the palace by their sons. The other feipin of xiandi were also promoted, but some had to move to the temporary palace and some had to stay in the palace.
"Zhen's first wife, Qu shi, xiandi had praised her for her great fortune and specially bestowed her in marriage to zhen. Qu shi entered the fu at the age of fifteen, gentle and graceful, warm and virtuous, beautiful and talented, peerless in intelligence, rare in the world. She would personally attend to zhen's every matter. She really is the model of a woman, and worthy of being the mother of the world. Zhen receiving such a wife, it is the great favor of the Heavens. Today, I hereby announce to the world that she is the mother of the world.
This decree, which would be taken by later generations as evidence of He Heng's deep love, was read out in front of the officials. After it was read once at the Imperial Court, someone had to go to the Empress to read it again. When the Imperial Astronomer selected it in time, the ceremony of bestowing the title, and the golden stamp and golden book, then it would truly be a success.
When Qu Qing Ju heard the first-rank female official read the Imperial Edict for the Empress in the back hall of Tian Qi Palace, she was suspicious that this wasn't a decree for the Empress, but a love letter that He Heng wrote to her in front of the world. What was called beautiful and talented, peerless in intelligence, rare in the world? And what was it that zhen receiving such a wife, it was the great favor of the Heavens?
Hadn't he heard of the saying, 'public display of affection leads to quick death'?
"Congratulations Empress, congratulations Empress." The palace servants in the room all gave their congratulations, the smiles on their faces even brighter than Qu Qing Ju's own.
After taking the Imperial Edict from the hands of the female official, Qu Qing Ju finally stood. She looked at the Imperial Edict in her hands. She recognized He Heng's handwriting. The words on this Imperial Edict had been personally written by He Heng, and not written by an imperial attendant.
"Congratulations Empress," The female official gave Qu Qing Ju a full bow.
Qu Qing Ju let the servants reward the female official. After the female official retreated, she saw that the servants in the room were all grinning and asked: "Why are you all happier than me?"
Mu Jin knelt, replying: "Empress' joyous occasion is nubi's joyous occasion. How can nubi not be happy?"
Qu Qing Ju smiled as she shook her head. She rewarded all the servants in the back hall. After letting those who weren't involved leave, she looked at the Imperial Edict in her hands again. A long while later, she sighed: "Mu Jin, lock it up."
In Zuo Jing Zhai, Feng Zi Jin looked in disbelief at the Imperial Edict in her hands. She couldn't believe that the Emperor had only made her a little seventh-grade cairen.
"In accordance with the will of the Heavens, the Emperor decrees: The daughter of Feng shi has served zhen in the hidden residence. Today, she is granted the title of cairen, and is specially bestowed the title of Ping." Lightly reading the Imperial Edict, Feng Zi Jin's hand gripped the Imperial Edict so tightly it hurt. This Imperial Edict didn't have a single compliment. It was as though if she wasn't an old member of the wang fu, it wouldn't have elevated her.
Ping, what kind of title was that?
After a little more than an hour, Chun Yu, who had gone out to gather information, returned. Feng Zi Jin put down the Imperial Edict in her hands and asked: "Did you get the information? What rank are the others?"
Chun Yu trembled as she shrank her shoulders, replying: "Zhuzi, nubi … … nubi found out that Jiang ce fei was promoted to Heng fei, Luo yiniang was promoted to Guipin, Han yiniang … … was promoted to Liangdi."
"Even Han Qing He was made a fifth-grade Liangdi?" Feng Zi Jin's face paled. She plopped down on the chair. She dazedly looked at the Imperial Edict on the table. Did the Emperor hate her to this extent?
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